The Fearful Mark
by Inthefire
Summary: What if Jace had been given the fearful mark instead of the fearless mark?


"Clary, just do it already," Jace let out a sigh of frustration and continued, "You already tested the mark on Alec, and we all saw that it worked just fine. And once you're done, I have to talk to you."

Clary, new to the world of the Shadowhunters and its marks, was a bit nervous. "But Jace, it's still a new mark, and I really don't want an accident or something to happen. No one's at the institute but us. If something goes wrong, no one can help me. And plus, don't you already have enough fearlessness?"

Jace glared at Clary. "I want to make myself as powerful as possible. I mean, not that I need it, but the sky is the limit." Jace's face promptly became thoughtful. "Hey Clary, do you think that you could come up with a flying mark?"

Now it was Clary's turn to be frustrated. "I'm new to this Jace, I don't want to push it." She looked at her watch. _Crap, I'm supposed to be meeting Simon for another one of those stupid poetry readings soon, _she thought. "Fine Jace, but don't blame me if you grow a second head or something."

Jace smiled. "But then you would get to see even more of this stunningness," he pointed out.

"First off 'stunningness' isn't a word, idiot. And I have to go meet Simon soon. Let's just get this over with."

Clary placed the tip of the steele on Jace's arm and began to draw. She closed her eyes and let the rune flow through the steele. Jace's voice interrupted her serenity. "So do you have to meet Simon so that you can listen to his band ruin the eardrums of those within a 3-mile radius?"

"His band isn't _that _bad, and no. His friend Eric has another poetry show." Clary finished the rune and put the steele in her pocket.

"So a different type of torture," Jace murmured before a funny look crossed his face. He shrank back, as if he had instantly become a small child talking to a much larger adult.

"Jace, are you okay?" Clary looked worried. "Did I do something wrong? Let me see you arm."

She grabbed his arm, but Jace whimpered, "Don't hurt me." Clary was bewildered as she looked at Jace, who seemed frightened. Looking at the mark, Clary realized that something was wrong, very, very wrong.

The mark looked nothing like the fearless rune she had drawn on Alec. When Clary was drawing the mark, Jace had interrupted her concentration. Clary hadn't realized it, but the mark that she drew was very different from the fearless rune. She continued to look at the mark, trying to determine what it said. And then it hit her; this wasn't the fearless mark, but one to increase fear: the fearful mark.

An icy shock of terror washed through her. _I can't let Jace see that I'm afraid. He'll just overreact, and I'll have a mess to deal with. _"So Jace," she began, attempting to control her breathing, "Didn't you have something that you wanted to tell me?"

Jace looked as if he was stricken by a deadly disease. "No! I can't tell you," he explained, "I was crazy to think that I could tell you."

"You can tell me anything, Jace," Clary told him as she rubbed his shoulders, "I'm your sister. That's what siblings are for."

But this remark did not help; Jace looked even more terrified of opening his mouth. "It's better if you don't know Clary, I can't imagine what I was thinking when I mentioned it…" his voiced trailed off. The loud sound of glass breaking pierced the air, followed by a large tremor. "What was that?" Jace whispered a note of fear in his voice.

Clary was already at the window, looking outside the building. "I don't see anything," she said, "So I guess we'll have to go find out the hard way. Do you have your seraph blades with you?"

"I do but…" he swallowed, "We can't go after that thing Clary. It could be dangerous."

"We have to Jace, whatever it is, it's broken into the institute, literally," Clary was rummaging through Jace's drawers, "Don't you keep weapons in your room?"

"Bottom drawer on the left," Jace responded, "Are you sure we have to do this, I mean, can't we call in for help─"

Clary, getting increasingly more frustrated cut Jace off, "We are the help, Jace. As Shadowhunters, our job is protect the world against demons, and whatever that it," Clary pointed to the floor. "Name your seraph blades, Jace; I have a few daggers." As Jace complied, Clary tried to reassure him. "Jace, you're the best Shadowhunter our age. You've killed probably thousands of demons; this is nothing to worry about." Noticing that Jace was done, she grabbed his arm, pulled him to the door and said, "Let's go."

Clary, for once, was the one leading Jace down the stairwell. When the two reached the main floor, everything was silent. "Maybe we should just leave," Jace suggested, "It probably left by now."

The loud crash of pots and pans hitting the floor signaled that the beast was in the kitchen. "Come on, Jace. We can do this," Clary encouraged.

"Clary stop," Jace pleaded, "What if you get hurt?"

"I trust you to protect me, Jace."

"But what if I can't Clary? I won't be able to forgive myself." This remark was lost on Clary, who was already sneaking into the kitchen. Jace ran after Clary, but she was already charging at the monster. It was a giant, covered in strange marks and was holding a club that it was using to smash the kitchen to pieces. _A Forsaken, _Jace thought.

As Clary lunged onto the Forsaken's back, she shoved a dagger into its back. The Forsaken did not flinch, and flung Clary off its back into the corner. It advanced on her, cornering her, raising its club high over its head. _Not Clary! _Jace thought, and pounced on the monster. He took his seraph blade and sliced the Forsaken's head off. Jace stood there, staring at the limp body, still unable to believe that he had grasped the courage to do it.

Jace walked over to Clary, helped her up and asked, "Are you okay? Do we need to go to the doctor?" Jace looked Clary over with utmost concern.

"I'm fine," Clary responded and smiled at Jace, who returned the gesture. Clary went to retrieve her dagger from the Forsaken, and was pulling it out when she heard Jace curse.

"What the hell just happened?" he continued, "What was wrong with me?" Clary looked at his arm, noticed that the mark had faded and giggled. "What is so funny?"

"I kind of, umm, gave you the wrong mark. I gave you the fear_ful _mark instead of the fear_less _mark."

"That would explain it," Jace glared at Clary, "I would love to tell everyone that you screwed up, but perhaps we should keep this to ourselves. I don't want anyone thinking that I'm a softie."

Clary giggled, and wandered over to the fridge, which had the front door wrenched off. "There's nothing in here but pink lemonade. You want some?" Clary offered Jace.

"After all of that wimpyness I need something more manly than pink. Do you want to go get something to eat?"

"Sure, I'll go get my coat. And Jace," Clary yelled from upstairs, "Wimpyness is not a word."

Clary came downstairs as Jace was posting a sign on the door: Forsaken attacked Institute, Clary and I are out for lunch. –Jace.

"All set," Clary said. Jace opened the door, and the two walked out.

"But really Clary, do you think that you could come up with a flying mark so that I can scare Alec witless?" Jace wanted to know. Clary just laughed and rolled her eyes.

"No more marks for me today, or the rest of this week. I already screwed up once; I have no need to do it again." Theyhad reached the door of the restaurant.

"I wonder what the Lightwoods will think when they get back," Clary said.

"At least we won't be there to find out. Come on, let's eat." Jace opened the door for Clary, who smiled at him, and entered.

**I got this idea and it amused me so I decided to write it. Please, please, please tell me your thoughts on it (please?- reviews make me ever so happy).**

**PS: Cassandra Clare owns Clary, Jace, the Lightwoods (they're mentioned) and the Institute. Oh and the concept of Forsaken and Shadowhunters. And anything else I forgot.**


End file.
